These two teams have a scattered history, meaning neither side has the edge over one another. In their past five PSL meetings, Quetta and Peshawar are locked away with two wins apiece along with a washed out match that failed to produce a result.

Their PSL head-to-head history to date may be even-stevens, but the active competition suggests that the Gladiators have the advantage coming into this match having already registered two wins compared to Peshawar’s one (both from three games each). Quetta’s commanding performance against Lahore in the fifth match was the turning point for them, they were under pressure after losing their opening match and responded in the best way possible as they ruthlessly-ran through their opposition. That first win has now given them the belief that they can beat anyone they come up against if they continue to stay in that mindset, they backed up that Qalandars victory with another win against Islamabad last night. It appears that everything is now running smoothly for Quetta, but their opponents for tonight’s clash have some serious rebuilding to do after a poor start to PSL 3 given the quality of their list. Yep, Peshawar has fallen well-short of all expectations. There’s still time to turn things around though, it’s still early days in the tournament and Zalmi’s top order still remains a huge physical threat with Iqbal, Akmal, Smith and Hafeez all capable of turning a match on its head in a matter of overs.

This Gladiators side is starting to function exceptionally well with just about every bowler contributing wickets in the past two games, and a number of batsmen starting to find form as they run deeper-and-deeper into their fixture. West Indian-born spearhead Jofra Archer hinted that he’ll play two more games for Quetta before packing his bags, he’ll be a huge loss despite his sides strong-dominance across the board. For the time being, the reality is that two more opposing teams coming up against the Gladiators will have to see off Archer’s effectively-fast bowling which could be a handful. As far as their batting goes, Shane Watson, Kevin Pietersen, Asad Shafiq, Umar Amin and Mohammad Nawaz have all played their part & chipped in valuable runs in their opening three games. Watson, the former Australian all-rounder, delivered a knockout blow against the Qalandars as he powered his way to 66 off just 42 deliveries, but it was Jofra Archer and Mohammad Nawaz who did the most damage with the ball that night. Archer claimed 3/23 in another exceptional display of seam bowling, while Nawaz completely cut-off Lahore’s scoring outlets with an incredibly-economical 2/4. After a free-flowing 48 from English superstar Kevin Pietersen in Quetta’s last match against Islamabad, Sarfraz Ahmed’s side looks in good touch heading into this one.

Given the two teams history in the franchise, we can’t afford to rule out anything at this stage, one side could be flying high and the other could be struggling to keep their head above water, yet the odds still remain split at 50-50. It’s not just because twenty20 cricket is an unpredictable game an anyone can win, sure it happens but these two teams have a history more checkered than a chess board. We saw just how damaging Dwayne Smith can be when he starts seeing them like a beach ball out in the middle, the former West Indian all-rounders unbeaten-71 was the highlight of Zalmi’s last match, yet it wasn’t enough to get them over the line against the Kings who shared the workload around in the run chase. Peshawar have to take a leaf out of Karachi’s book and look into contributing more as a group rather than looking to individuals to pull off a miraculous win. It’s all well & good when it works, but teams who bat deep have a better success-rate than one or two individuals trying to carry the team. Mohammad Hafeez is that type of player who can contribute alongside a Kamran Akmal or Dwayne Smith type-batsman, he’s got the poise as well as the stroke-play, the 37-year-old scored 59 & 30* in Zalmi’s first two games. They should challenge the Gladiators in the bowling department though, they have a strong seam bowling attack as well as an impressive-teenage leg-spinner who’s making an impact so far.

Zak Varik is an Australian columnist/writer who specializes in the sports category cricket. With over four years of experience covering all sorts of cricket tournaments around the world, Zak has gained extensive knowledge in International cricket as well as domestic.
“I’ve loved watching cricket since I was about 7 years old, my childhood hero was none other than Andrew “Roy” Symonds who probably enhanced my love of the game through the years”.
Zak is now an established writer for FCN (Fantasy Cricket News) and has also previously represented other Blogs during his time as a writer.

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